This little space beside the stairs in our homes entryway, was always been a bit of an eyesore and a convenient ‘catch all’ area that would look very messy, very fast 😬
We had the entry closet to store some things in but after putting a small freezer in there, that storage went away too.
With babester on the way, I finally drew out an idea and got the husbster to sit down with me and measure out some IKEA pieces to use for the creating of my vision.
Turns out, he was not at all pumped to create it 😬🙈
BUT, he did a fabulous job in the end 😅
Mom helped me assemble some of the pieces so they’d be ready to go when Mike finally had some time. Which happened to be the day after we got back from our baby moon, hence the suitcases you can see below.
Once he had secured the base, we contemplated what to do for a top. The length of the whole bench was a bit too long to use the boards we’d planned on using, as they all had a little bit of twist to them, making installation too difficult.
We went with a piece of birch plywood to put on top, as per a suggested idea from the mumsie 🤓
Edging to give the front a finished look was available in the matching color and that went on simply by ironing and then going behind that and pressing it on firmly with a rolling pin.
Kinda funny that two house items I avoid, the iron and rolling pin, were actually needed for a reno project 🤪
I of course spray painted the knobs that came with the cupboard/drawer fronts, gold 🤪👌🏻
I tested out a few different sealers my mom happened to have and ended up going with clear, ‘Diamond Finish’ Varathane . I applied three coats, letting it dry, as well as giving it a super duper light sanding and wipe down, between each coat.
I’m SO happy with how it turned out and somehow, it still always floors me how FILLING a space, can actually make it feel bigger.
Now we have good bench for putting on shoes, storage for shoes and other odds and ends as well as a very handy place to set the car seat, diaper bag, mail etc. when you enter the house.
Price break-down –
$180.00 – 2 Kallax shelf units
$40.00 – 4 Kallax door inserts
$80.00 – 4 Kallax drawer inserts
(All in high gloss white)
$45.00 – 1 Sheet of birch plywood from Rona
$10.00 – 1 Pack edge banding from Rona
$10/20 – Clear finish – not certain on the price as I used my moms and used very little + misc. screws, applicable taxes etc.
Jemstory 